Refer to explorations in literature for a complete version of this poem. near the end of "the river merchant's wife: a letter," the speaker describes how she is hurt by seeing the "paired butterflies," which are "already yellow with august." how do these details develop the idea that time and maturity can allow love to develop between two people? a. they show that the speaker is still immature, which is why real love has not yet developed between her and her husband. b. they suggest that the beauty of the natural world is fleeting and cannot compare to the lasting beauty of two mature people who love one another. c. they show that, even when two people are mature enough to be in love, separation and time can cause their feelings to change and dim and wither. d. they suggest that the speaker is no longer the innocent girl or the bashful bride she once was, and she wants to be paired again with her beloved husband.

"the children's hour" by henry wadsworth longfellow between the dark and the daylight, when the night is beginning to lower, comes a pause in the day's occupations, that is known as the children's hour. i hear in the chamber above me the patter of little feet, the sound of a door that is opened, and voices soft and sweet. from my study i see in the lamplight, descending the broad hall stair, grave alice, and laughing allegra, and edith with golden hair. a whisper, and then a silence: yet i know by their merry eyes they are plotting and planning together to take me by surprise. a sudden rush from the stairway, a sudden raid from the hall! by three doors left unguarded they enter my castle wall! they climb up into my turret o'er the arms and back of my chair; if i try to escape, they surround me; they seem to be everywhere. they almost devour me with kisses, their arms about me entwine, till i think of the bishop of bingen in his mouse-tower on the rhine! do you think, o blue-eyed banditti, because you have scaled the wall, such an old mustache as i am is not a match for you all! i have you fast in my fortress, and will not let you depart, but put you down into the dungeon in the round-tower of my heart. and there will i keep you forever, yes, forever and a day, till the walls shall crumble to ruin, and moulder in dust away! which literary device does longfellow use most frequently in the poem? a. simile b. metaphor c. repetition d. personification